Lubna Mrie

And my mother was so happy with my sister's score because...

You know, like throughout our childhood, people kept telling her, like, girls need their father in their lives in order to succeed.

So by my sister's achievement, my mother showed everyone and proved to everyone that she was enough, like she was more than enough.

So my sister's scores were her source of pride.

So the year after that, when my scores were super low, my scores were her source of shame.

And my mother was so angry with me.

And in that moment, I knew I can just turn to my father.

And...

My father, when he knew about my score, he took me out, out for lunch, and he got me a piece of gold.

And he told me, like, not to worry about my grades.

And he reminded me again that, you know, school is for poor people who will need to apply for jobs after college.

But I wouldn't need that because I have his money, his inheritance, and I would have a rich husband, right?

And then I told him like, but my mother says the opposite.

And he told me like, but look at your mother, she would die of hunger without me.

And I, for some reason, I repeat that line to my mother.

And she was so furious.

She calls him and she tells him that he's illiterate and he's trying to

destroy everything she's trying to instill in us.

And two weeks later, we tried to get money from him and he demands my mother to be on the phone and to apologize from him.

And I remember seeing her on the phone whispering, may God bless your hands.